Three Benefits of Indoor Navigation for Corporate Offices

Is your office a sea of cubicles or an open landscape with shared desks? Either way, indoor navigation can help.

Maybe you haven’t adopted the hot desk strategy yet, but chances are you’re leaning towards the modern office layout. However, while modern offices foster creativity, improve communication, and boost teamwork, they can also be rather expensive, stressful, and a productivity killer. 

Over the past few years, indoor navigation has evolved from being a “nice to have '' to a “need to have” for corporate offices. Why? Because it forms a powerful platform for the modern office. ‘Directions’ may be the the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about indoor navigation, but wayfinding is actually just one of the many benefits indoor navigation offers.

#1. Cutting costs

Seventy percent of people globally work remotely at least once a week, and 53% are out of office for at least half of the week. Flexibility is important to the modern office employee, but it comes at a high cost for offices. 

It is estimated that the annualized cost for just one workstation in one calendar year can be as much as $18,000. With 70% of people working remotely at least once a week, most desks are left unused 20% of the time. Using these numbers, a company with 1000 employees spends up to $2.520.000 a year on unutilized office space. A staggering amount that explains why hot desking is becoming the new black among corporate offices.

However, while hot desking saves space and money, it also creates confusion - where you sat yesterday is not where you sit today… And the person you need to talk to right now is… where? You don’t know. Neither do your colleagues. 

The key ingredient of your indoor navigation solution is the map, but it’s more than just a map. It’s a platform of possibilities. The secret ingredient that will take your solution to a whole new level, is the integrations you make. 

By integrating indoor navigation maps with your Space Management System you’ll be able to instantly see where to find an available desk for the day and to effortlessly locate your colleagues. This allows you to reduce unnecessary costs linked to unutilized office space while keeping stress levels down.

#2. Eliminating time waste

Another situation that can make stress levels soar, is feeling lost. Especially if you’re on your way to a meeting and are running late. Modern offices are diverse, which make them hard to navigate. But what is the cost of being lost?

According to studies, 60% of office workers spend excessive time locating conference rooms due to wayfinding problems. The average office employee reportedly spends up to 30 minutes a day hunting for a room for their purposes. That means a company of 1,000 employees spends an average of 60,000 hours a year searching for meeting rooms. That’s the equivalent of 30 full-time positions.

Just like your Space Management System, you can also integrate your indoor navigation solution with your Booking System. This allows you to easily book conference rooms and find your way to them before your meeting. This setup can be further developed by integrating your wayfinding solution with, for instance, motion sensors that can detect if a booked meeting room is actually in use. If there has been no movement in the room within the first ten minutes of the booking, the reservation will automatically be deleted, so the room can be booked and used by others. 

#3. Making employees happier

Modern offices are supposed to increase productivity...but do they? The complexity of modern offices can make them tricky to navigate, and when we feel lost, we tend to ask for help. Just ask the person seated closest to the entry of each floor and they’ll tell you.

Nothing kills productivity faster than interruptions. Moreover, they rapidly drain you from energy and decrease your workplace satisfaction. According to a study by University of California Irvine, office workers spend an average of 11 minutes on a project before they are interrupted. Even worse, it then takes an average of 25 minutes to get back to the point they were at before the interruptions.

Indoor navigation is an easy way to make employees as well as office visitors more self-reliant and reduce the number of interruptions. There are plenty of ways to set up your indoor navigation solution. MapsIndoors can be integrated into your own existing application, but it can also be used as a stand-alone service. Office visitors can search for their destination inside your office on kiosks in your reception area and have the directions sent to them on their phone.

If you want to know more about indoor navigation and what it can do for your office, reach out to the salesperson in your area. We’d be happy to talk to you.